1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to assemblies and methods directed to fiber optic patching arrays.
2. Background Art
Fiber optic patching systems have become more prevalent in the structured cabling market as the need for high speed applications continues to grow. In some cases, fiber optic patching systems have displaced legacy copper patching systems as the need for bandwidth has exceeded the theoretical maximums associated with copper. In central offices, data centers and other wired buildings, fiber optic patch panels have become a necessary media to route connections between switches, servers, storage devices and the general office area. By ‘patching’, or temporarily creating a connection between physically mated connectors, it is possible to reconfigure network connections from a central location.
As shown in the Telecommunication Industry of America (TIA) Standard for Data centers, TIA-942, a patch panel interface frequently exists as an integral part of a building's architecture. Due to the relatively large space that data centers can occupy, it is recommended that building architects plan for data center and telecommunication room accommodations early in a design process. This is a notable departure from the past, where telecommunication rooms were often an afterthought or even left out of the design process entirely.
In order to reduce the effective area that a patching system utilizes in a facility, suppliers of fiber optic cables and interface apparatus have taken steps to reduce the size of the fiber optic connector. As is known to one having ordinary skill in the art, the term “adapter” is interchangeable with the term “coupler” and refers to a device that creates a connection between two fiber optic ferrules, each containing a light carrying medium of fiber. An adapter typically contains a ceramic or phosphorous bronze alignment sleeve and one or more features that provide for latching a connector into the adapter. An MT-RJ adapter, however, does not include an alignment sleeve because the fibers are aligned by precision pins and holes on the mating connector ferrules. An example of recent technology advances associated with connector technology is the LC connector as defined by TIA-604-10. The LC connector features a 50% size reduction relative to its predecessor, the SC connector as defined by the TIA-604-3.
Separately, suppliers of fiber optic connectivity hardware have recently been providing modular cassette patching products to the premise industry. Products currently on the market include the Ortronics Momentum™ system, Systemax InstaPATCHT™ system, and the Corning Plug & Play™ system. These cassette systems allow the user to create a passive network link with minimal experience in fiber optics. A user can install the cassette into a vertical rack cabinet, such as the Ortronics FC02U-P, connect a backbone cable terminated with an MPO connector to the rear of the cassette, connect a patch cord to the front of the cassette and then on to an optical transceiver. The same is repeated at the other end of the backbone cable, thereby creating an optical data link.
To date, rack systems utilize vertical stacking of the cassettes. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a vertical stacking cassette cabinet assembly 1 associated with prior art assemblies. Assembly 1 includes an enclosure 9 defining a receiving cavity 2. Tray 14 is adapted to host a plurality of fiber optic ports (not shown). The ports are often included on a cassette shell (not shown) that can be secured on a bottom tray surface 5. The ports (also commonly referred to as jacks) are accessed through openings 6 defined along a front face 7 extending upwardly with respect to tray 4.
Tray 4 can translate axially along a horizontal axis “x” by sliding the tray in and out of cavity 2. Rear patching access to the cassettes is generally achieved by sliding tray 4 out from cavity 2. When tray 4 is fully inserted within cavity 2, cabinet 9 can be closed via a hingedly connected front door 3. Front door 3 can include a locking feature 8 for securely locking cabinet 9 and preventing unauthorized access to the cassettes.
According to the prior art assemblies, the cassettes hosted on bottom surface 5 align the fiber optic ports vertically along axis “y”. This configuration disadvantageously prevents further use in the deeper portions associated with cavity 2. Since the density of fiber optic ports is substantially limited, a relatively large number of cabinets is often necessary to appropriately accommodate a particular data center.
Conventional vertical stacking technique allows for the user to easily insert and remove patch cords from the patch panel as well as manage the fiber in vertical cable managers. Historically, only the vertical plane of the rack has been used/available for patching access. However, a need exists to further increase the density of fiber optic connectors that may fit into a given floor space in a data center or telecommunications room.
These and other disadvantages and/or limitations are addressed and/or overcome by the assemblies and methods of the present disclosure.